Solar wind
Mercury, the nearest planet to the Sun, bears the full brunt of the solar wind, and its atmosphere is vestigial and transient, its surface bathed in radiation.
The Earth's Moon has no atmosphere or intrinsic magnetic field, and consequently its surface is bombarded with the full solar wind. The Project Apollo missions deployed passive aluminum collectors in an attempt to sample the solar wind, and lunar soil returned for study confirmed that the lunar regolith is enriched in atomic nuclei deposited from the solar wind. There has been speculation that these elements may prove to be useful resources for future lunar colonies.
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Outer limits
The solar wind "blows a bubble" in the interstellar medium (the rarefied hydrogen and helium gas that permeates the galaxy). The point where the solar wind's strength is no longer great enough to push back the interstellar medium is known as the heliopause, and is often considered to be the outer "border" of the solar system. The distance to the heliopause is not precisely known, and probably varies widely depending on the current velocity of the solar wind and the local density of the interstellar medium, but it is known to lie far outside the orbit of Pluto. Scientists hope to gain more perspective on the heliopause from data acquired through the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission, to be launched in 2008.
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See also
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Notes
- ^ a b Meyer-Vernet, Nicole (2007). Basics of the Solar Wind. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521814200.
- ^ Kristian Birkeland, "Are the Solar Corpuscular Rays that penetrate the Earth's Atmosphere Negative or Positive Rays?" in Videnskapsselskapets Skrifter, I Mat -- Naturv. Klasse No.1, Christiania, 1916.
- ^ Philosophical Magazine, Series 6, Vol. 38, No. 228, December, 1919, 674 (on the Solar Wind)
- ^ Ludwig Biermann (1951). "Kometenschweife und solare Korpuskularstrahlung". Zeitschrift für Astrophysik 29: 274.
- ^ Christopher T. Russell. THE SOLAR WIND AND MAGNETOSPHERIC DYNAMICS. Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics University of California, Los Angeles. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
- ^ Roach, John. "Astrophysicist Recognized for Discovery of Solar Wind", National Geographic News, August 27, 2003. Retrieved on 2006-06-13.
- ^ Eugene Parker (1958). "Dynamics of the Interplanetary Gas and Magnetic Fields". The Astrophysical Journal 128: 664.
- ^ Luna 1. NASA National Space Science Data Center. Retrieved on 2007-08-04.
- ^ (Russian) 40th Anniversary of the Space Era in the Nuclear Physics Scientific Research Institute of the Moscow State University, contains the graph showing particle detection by Luna 1 at various altitudes.
- ^ M. Neugebauer and C. W. Snyder (1962). "Solar Plasma Experiment". Science 138: 1095–1097. doi:.
- ^ G. W. Pneuman and R. A. Kopp (1971). "Gas-magnetic field interactions in the solar corona". Solar Physics 18: 258. doi:.
- ^ Encrenaz, Thérèse; Bibring, J.-P.; Blanc, M. (2003). The Solar System. Springer. ISBN 3540002413.
- ^ a b Kallenrode, May-Britt (2004). Space Physics: An Introduction to Plasmas and. Springer. ISBN 3540206175.
- ^ Carroll, Bradley W.; Ostlie, Dale A. (1995). An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, revised 2nd edition, Benjamin Cummings. ISBN 0201547309.—p. 409
- ^ Schrijver, Carolus J.; Zwaan, Cornelis (2000). Solar and stellar magnetic activity. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521582865.
- ^ Meyer-Vernet, Nicole (2007). Basics of the Solar Wind. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521814200.
- ^ Feldman, U.; Landi, E.; Schwadron, N. A. (2005). "On the sources of fast and slow solar wind". Journal of Geophysical Research 110: A07109.1–A07109.12. doi:.
- ^ Suess, Steve (June 3, 1999). Overview and Current Knowledge of the Solar Wind and the Corona. The Solar Probe. NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
- ^ Lang, Kenneth R. (2000). The Sun from Space. Springer. ISBN 3540669442.
- ^ Harra, Louise; Milligan, Ryan; Fleck, Bernhard (April 2, 2008). Hinode: source of the slow solar wind and superhot flares. ESA. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
- ^ Bzowski, M.; Mäkinen, T.; Kyrölä, E.; Summanen, T.; Quémerais, E. (2003). "Latitudinal structure and north-south asymmetry of the solar wind from Lyman-α remote sensing by SWAN". Astronomy & Astrophysics 408: 1165–1177. doi:.
- ^ Hassler, Donald M.; Dammasch, Ingolf E.; Lemaire, Philippe; Brekke, Pål; Curdt, Werner; Mason, Helen E.; Vial, Jean-Claude; Wilhelm, Klaus (1999). "Solar Wind Outflow and the Chromospheric Magnetic Network". Science 283 (5403): 810–813. doi:.
- ^ Marsch, Eckart; Tu, Chuanyi (April 22, 2005). Solar Wind Origin in Coronal Funnels. ESA. Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
- ^ Endal, A. S.; Sofia, S. (1981). "Rotation in solar-type stars. I - Evolutionary models for the spin-down of the sun". Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 243: 625-640.
- ^ Grünwaldt H et al. (1997). "Venus tail ray observation near Earth.". Geophysical Research Letters 24 (10): 163–1166. doi:.
- ^ a b Magnetic sails are propelled almost entirely due to the force of the solar wind. Solar sails are propelled almost entirely due to the force of the sun's EM radiation, not the solar wind.
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External links
- Sun|trek website An educational resource for teachers and students about the Sun and its effect on the Earth
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